The True Cost of Experiential Sustainability

Sustainability is a contract, no one party is responsible. It’s a collaboration, a cooperative space, an industrial-commons. 

Truly sustainable brands and events might be a utopian future but right now the challenge is teaching all brands new tricks, and that responsibility often sits squarely with the agency. 

But, an industry problem requires an industry solution. Simples. Right? 

Sustainability isn’t a new activation you can brief in 2 weeks out from the event. It’s a commitment written into the fabric of a brief, derived from the soul of the brand.  

Everyone’s talking about Gen A, Gen Z and Young Millennials, not forgetting the forgotten generation, but this brand story is ubiquitous across demographics. As we grow up, so do our collective value systems. All of us are calling out green-washing, lambasting duplicity and harpooning brand insensitivities. 

If, in one sector, we are collectively rejecting fast fashion and sweat shop processes in a quest for equality and inclusion, is a brands holistic approach to sustainability not next? Are live events a space yet to be sweated? Or is product sustainability different to operational sustainability?

Data summarising 2023 consumer behaviours released by The Round Up found ‘84% of customers say that poor environmental practices will alienate them from a brand or company’. This is backed up by the knowing ‘55% of consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly brands’, therefore a holistic approach to sustainability and purposeful brand storytelling is essential.

In my experience, event-sustainability is most often a reactive project request and at most, a paper promise in the brief. I’ve received briefs citing sustainability as a key brand value, briefs that have asked for sustainable practices only to reject these same requirements when the cost of responsible materials, recyclable print and eco-shipping are reconciled against the more traditional (and polluting) alternatives.

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